The building dimensions of a paint shop for painting vehicle bodies are determined by the necessary process devices for painting the bodies such as, for example, dipping plants, driers, spray booths and work spaces, and also by the necessary transport and ventilation installations including the supply of materials and environmental management for waste water, waste materials and exhaust air.
In this case, only the position of the process devices within the paint shop can be changed and not their dimensions.
The transport installations are not themselves used for the surface treatment of the vehicle bodies, but solely for transporting the bodies between the individual process sections and/or for performing necessary functions such as colour sorting of the bodies and emptying process sections.
In the paint shops known hitherto these transport installations are without exception erected on previously defined floor levels within the paint shop. These floor levels must be provided in the building of the paint shop.
The position of the temporary storage areas for colour sorting and emptying process sections is determined both by the process sequence and by the free spaces available in the paint shop. The storage areas are arranged on a plurality of levels in order to keep the floor area of the paint shop building as small as possible.
In the known paint shops the ventilation installations are erected on steel platforms specially provided for them or even on special floor levels of the paint shop (penthouse) inside the paint shop building.
Pretreatment units and units for cataphoretic dip coating (abbreviated in the following to “CDC”) are usually erected on two levels. In this case the heavy dip tanks filled with process liquid generally are located above the respective associated containers. Heavy steel platforms or concrete ceilings are required for this.
The driers and their heating units constantly emit heat to the surrounding area as a result of their radiant heat. This undesirable, but unavoidable, input of heat into the building of the paint shop must not have a negative influence on the work spaces. Therefore, in the known paint shops the driers and their heating units are respectively erected on platforms or building levels above the work spaces.
To be able to perform the transport- and plant-related functions of the paint shop, the paint shop building in known paint shops is erected over up to four levels and also on a substantially larger floor area than would be necessary for the painting processes alone.
The paint shop building must be designed statically according to the loads that are necessary as a result of the plant installations and transport installations with the bodies transported thereon as well as the steel or concrete levels necessary for erection.
Dangerous areas are caused in the paint shop as a result of the transport of bodies in the paint shop and also the necessary moving transport installations for these such as e.g. hoisting stations, shuttle wagons, swivel tables or turntables. Therefore, safety installations must be provided on a large scale in order to comply with the corresponding legal requirements and to exclude risks to people.
Compromises have to be made in many cases in designs of escape routes from the known paint shops because of the complexity of the paint shop building.
The scheduling times in the erection of known paint shops are determined by the multistorey design of the buildings and the therefore difficult assembly and commissioning of the plant installations.
Patent document DE 103 50 846 A1 discloses a processing assembly for the production of motor vehicles with a processing area, which consists of a base body finishing area, a painting area and an assembly area, and with a single central body storage unit as body logistics centre, into which bodies with different finishing status can be stored.